A moving ceremony marked last week's formal opening of the
new yeshiva gedola in the new city of Elad. The
ceremony was attended by gedolei Torah, roshei
yeshiva, rabbonim, and hundreds of local bnei
Torah.
HaRav Binyomin Gintzler, mashgiach of the yeshiva,
opened the event with the reading of chapters of Tehillim.
Divrei Torah were delivered by the rosh yeshiva of
the Rashbi Yeshiva of Bnei Brak and one of the presidents of
the yeshiva, HaRav Meir Tzvi Bergman.
HaRav Gintzler said, "The yeshiva which is opening today
will, besiyato deShmaya, be maintained on the merit of
Maran, the Aviezri (Maran HaRav Eliezer Menachem Shach,
shlita) may Hashem lengthen his days." HaRav Meir Tzvi
Bergman is the son-in-law of HaRav Shach, shlita, and
his son-in-law, HaRav Chaim Pas, is rosh yeshiva of
the new yeshiva.
The next speaker was HaRav Dovid Werner, who cited an
incident which occurred in the Volozhin yeshiva when it was
closed. At that time, the Netziv said, "Until now, the
yeshiva has endured on the merit of the tears of Rav Chaim of
Volozhin, but now their merit has ended." The same was true
regarding the mishkan. After combining all the letters
with which Heaven and Earth had been created, Moshe Rabbenu
still had to recite the blessing of `Veyehi noam.'
Rashi says, `This was a plea, because without techina
nothing can endure.' We too," HaRav Werner added, "must shed
a tear for the success of this illustrious yeshiva."
The moro de'asra of Elad, HaRav Shlomo Zalman
Grossman, mentioned the words of the Chasam Sofer, who said
that in order to merit that the mishkan would indeed
be, "to Me, for My name," bnei Yisroel needed the
blessing of Moshe Rabbenu, although they had been promised
that Hashem would dwell amidst them. "A new mokom
Torah also requires such merits," HaRav Grossman said.
"This mokom Torah will be a lighthouse for the entire
region."
HaRav Pas, the rosh yeshiva, then rose to speak. He
stressed the words of the novi, "Ki im bezos . . . haskeil
veyodo'a Osi." He explained this according to the
commentary of the Aviezri, who asked why the mitzvah of faith
is mentioned here. He writes, "The Griz says in the name of
the Gra that emunah encompasses that which one cannot
achieve or grasp with his own capacities. But if such is the
case, how can we obligate him to achieve it? The explanation
is: If a man has a strong will to achieve such emunah,
Hashem grants him the ability to do so as a gift transcending
nature. Thus we merit something which transcends our natural
capacities. We have merited all this only due to the will of
Maran, may Hashem grant him speedy recovery, and on the merit
of all the bnei Torah of the city who have joined
together in order to establish Torah here."
The spiritual leadership of the yeshiva praised HaRav Pas,
who has for been involved in Torah dissemination for many
years. He is assisted by the mashgiach, HaRav Binyomin
Gintzler, who was the talmid muvhak of HaRav Meir
Chodosh, serving him for twelve years. Assisting them are
HaRav A. Baharan, a ram in the yeshiva and HaRav Akiva
Rottenberg, who has been a nosei venosein in the
yeshiva since its founding.
